As a conventional paper sheet handling apparatus as mentioned above, there is known a bank-note handling apparatus shown in FIG. 29 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-153230). This bank-note handling apparatus includes a bank-note receipt portion 200 in which a bank note 201 is cast from a bank-note inlet 208 located almost in its middle in the directions of its height. Then, it is judged at an identifying portion 204 whether the bank note 201 is genuine or not and what type it is. Next, the large-domination bank note 201 which has been judged genuine is sent to a large-domination bank-note storage portion 203 through a forwarding line 211, and it is stored therein. On the other hand, the small-domination bank note 201 is sent through a forwarding line 212 to a small-domination bank-note storage portion 206 which is placed below the bank-note inlet 208, and it is stored therein. The bank note 201 which has not been judged genuine is returned to the side of the bank-note inlet 208 by the reversal of a driving unit. In the bank-note receipt portion 200, a bank-note paying-out portion 205 is provided between the bank-note inlet 208 and the small-domination bank-note storage portion 206 located below it. It sends and pays out the bank note which has been forwarded from the small-domination bank-note storage portion 206, to a bank-note outlet 209, if a paying-out request is made.
Accordingly, the conventional bank-note handling apparatus is configured such that the bank-note outlet 209 is provided below and separately from the bank-note inlet 208. Thus, the bank-note receipt portion 200 and the bank-note paying-out portion 205 are piled in the up-and-down directions, thereby making it tall.
If the conventional bank-note handling apparatus as mentioned above is housed in equipment with a sufficiently large space inside of it, for example, an ATM (or automatic teller machine) or the like, that does not constitute any obstacles. However, there has been a disadvantage in that if it is housed in equipment which has a small inside-space and thus is subject to limitations on the height measurement of its housing space, for example, a vending machine, a money changer, recreational equipment for amusements, or the like, then the housing may be difficult to conduct.
Aiming at resolving such a disadvantage of the prior art, it is an object of the present invention to provide a paper sheet handling apparatus which is capable of receiving and paying out a paper sheet, and which can be small-sized so that the housing is conducted even though there are limitations on the height measurement of housing space.
In the conventional bank-note handling apparatus as mentioned above, the forwarding line 211, the forwarding line 212, and the like, are configured to supply a bank note to the large-domination bank-note storage portion 203 and the small-domination bank-note storage portion 206, in the horizontal direction from the rear-plane side. This makes its measurements longer even in the front-and-rear directions, and thus, it becomes very large-sized. Hence, equipment which has a small inside-space and thus is subject to limitations on the depth measurement of its housing space, for example, a vending machine, a money changer, recreational equipment for amusements, or the like, then not only limitations on the height measurement but also limitations on the depth measurement may make the housing difficult to conduct.
This will be described below, as an example, using recreational equipment 220 for amusements shown in FIG. 30.
In the amusement recreational equipment 220, a CRT 221 which makes a display is placed in the height position that corresponds to the eyes of a player from a human-engineering viewpoint. This frequently imposes limitations on its height measurement. Besides, a coin inlet portion 222 which is used with high frequency is placed on the right-hand side below the CRT 221 to make it easy to handle. On its right side is placed a bank-note inlet 223. In a further lower part, there is placed a coin receipt portion 224. In addition, a coin identifying unit (not shown) is placed inside of a case 225 provided with the coin inlet portion 222, and a bank-note handling apparatus 226 is placed inside of the bank-note inlet 223, respectively. Thereby, the bank-note handling apparatus 226 is subject to limitations not only on its width measurement in the right-and-left directions, but also on its front-and-rear measurement according to the depth measurement of the CRT 221. This may make the bank-note handling apparatus 226 more difficult to mount.
Therefore, it is another object of the present invention to provide a paper sheet handling apparatus which can be small-sized so that the housing is conducted, even though there are limitations on the depth measurement of housing space.